Searching for death
by nix99
Summary: After Dumbledore's death it is up to Harry, Hermione and Ron to find a way to kill Lord Voldemort. Along the way love will be found, darkness will grow, battles will be fought and good and bad will just become shades of grey.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Hermione"

"Hermione"

"Hermiiiione"

Every time Ron said my name it was followed by a sharp poke in the ribs, but no, I was not going to give up my lovely warm and fluffy bed.

Groaning I pulled by blanket over my head and proceeded to ignore his increasingly annoying voice, it was far too early to do anything but sleep.

"Go away" I grumbled, trying very hard to ignore the temptation of throwing my alarm clock at his ginger head.

I buried deeper under my blanket and rolled over to the wall hoping he would just give up and go away. It was just soooo warm and lovely, he could go to hell if he expected me to put my toasty feet on the horrible cold floor.

"It's too early ". I was definitely not getting out of my bed today.

"Up, now" Ron's voice in my ear was followed by a sharp pull on my blanket, leaving me blinking in the morning sunlight that was beaming through the window right into my eyes.

Shielding my face with my arm I glared at the door Ron was currently sauntering out of and stared at the empty bed next to mine.

If Ginny was up it was probably time for me to get up too, not that this fact made me any happier.

Sticking my foot under the bed I searched for my missing slipper. It wasn't there; it never is in the first place you look.

Still blinking in the morning light I stuck my head under Ginny's bed trying my best to avoid the dirty laundry and half-filled coffee cup that was hidden under it. Yup, there was my slipper, exactly where I had kicked it the day before as I couldn't be bothered to clear up after myself.

Blowing the dust off it, I slipped it on and dragged by feet into the bathroom.

I stuck my face under the cold tap and scrubbed briskly, in my haste getting water up my nose, which by the way is most uncomfortable, and stared at my morning hair in the mirror.

In my world, morning hair is probably the worst kind of hair you can start the day with. Anyone with curly hair will understand my annoyance with hair that is curly and wild on one side but is completely flat and frizzy on the side you have slept on. Pulling faces in the mirror I pulled it up in a messy bun, not that that helped with all the frizzy bits as it just continued to look like I was a bush.

By now I could hear more voices than normal in the kitchen so I rushed back to the room and grabbed the first pair of jeans and t- shirt I could find and hopped down the stairs putting my socks on, the smell of fresh coffee beckoning me like the call of a siren.

So intent was my nose on following the smell I failed to notice all the people crowded in the kitchen and that were arguing at the top of their voices.

Once my cup of hot milky coffee was safely in my hands I stared around the room. All the Weasleys, Fleur, Kingsley, Moody, Mundungus, Lupin ,Tonks, Hagrid and Kingsley were shouting and waving their hands around the place.

Nudging Ginny with my elbow I asked "What in the name of Merlin is going on?"

"Today you get Harry" she said, raising an eyebrow.

Bother it, I had completely forgotten.

Finishing my coffee I immersed myself in all the arguments that were going on around the Weasley's kitchen table.

After a few hours, a delicious lunch made by Mrs. Weasley and more arguing, the last details of the plan were finished.

Running upstairs I grabbed my coat, said my goodbyes to Ginny and ran back down again where everyone was getting ready to go.

Moody was the person in charge of casting the disillusionment charm on us as he is far too paranoid to ever consider letting one of us ever place a spell on him. Still tingling from the spell we all headed out to the garden to grab everything that was needed, be it a flying motorbike or a Thestral and of we set to retrieve Harry from his god-awful family.

Once we arrived safely in the Dursley's back garden we got off all the different means of transport and started to pop into sight.

Like always, Hagrid was occupying all the breathing space which was making it kind of complicated for the rest of us to move around the skeletal horses, the brooms and various other contraptions.

Swearing and rubbing his head Harry rushed out the back door pointing his wand at us. He lowered as soon as Ron practically threw himself on him and ushered us all in.

After getting past all of the who married whom and the explaining of the plan and the blabla I'm never going to do this, more blabla and a lot of fussing we managed to get Harry to give us some hair for the Polyjuice Potion that turned a rather nice shade of golden.

Scooting away from the stink Mundungus was letting off; I pinched my nose and drank it all down in one gulp.

Grimacing and trembling slightly I could just feel the bones in my body growing larger and my hair shooting back into my head. Once it had finished I stared at all the other Harry Potters that were roaming around the room. The original one did not look amused.

Groping around the kitchen I managed to bump my shin on the edge of the table as I felt my way to the sack that contained the glasses we would be needing as Harry is half blind.

We all started changing and I have to confess I was kind of curious as I took my clothes off. Harry is kind of scrawny and thin so my new body was not really anything special to look at. I have always said I would like to be a boy for a day, the official reason being that I would just like to feel what it would like to be a guy, the non-official reason being I would very much like to masturbate as a boy to see if there really is such a difference between guys and girls (not that I would ever confess to this thought ad no, I most definitely did not do it this time as I really, really, really, did not wan't to see Harry's ehm, let's say " man bits").

We all paired off and I stuck myself to Kingsley's side. I mean c'mon who better to save my ass if a Death Eater decided to annihilate us?

Ron did not look happy he had to go with Tonks. I wouldn't be either.

Thank the gods we didn't have to ride a broom, basically because there would have been a high probability they would have had to or pull me out a river or unstick me from a tree. I never have felt the pull of riding a wooden pole. It just seems unsafe and uncomfortable. Give me a living breathing animal that actually has a brain and knows where it is going any day.

We all waited until Moody and Mundungus and Harry and Hagrid had taken off and then off we all went.

Flying in the night sky is not as cool as you may think, it is freezing.

Wrapping my numb arms around Kingsley I hopped I really did look like Harry.

Sometimes I wish Harry could save himself and didn't have to get us all in the middle of all the trouble.

By the time we were half there I had got a horrid crick in my neck from twisting around and checking to see if anyone was following us. My paranoia was rewarded as out of the nothingness appeared five black clad figures.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit" I muttered under my breath as the Thestral started maneuvering in the air trying it's best to avoid all the spells they were casting at us.

Doing my best to grip my wand in my frozen fingers I joined Kingsley in trying to at least disarm them. Not long ago I would have been horrified at some of the charms I cast at them but as I cast Avada after Avada all I could do was smile as I saw them drop out of the sky. It was oddly satisfying. I never thought I could kill so easily but in an odd way it felt kind of good.

One of them plumeted to the ground, his broom spiraling after him. That was one of them down then, only four more to go. Kingsley managed to injure one of them, the blood falling in gushes to the city below, it looked like red rain. The other cloaked figure next to him grabbed his arm, his hood falling off in the process. My eyes widened as we both recognized Travers who should have been safely looked up in Azkaban. We both shared a look of horror having reached the same conclusion. If Travers was out there was a very high probability all the others were out too.

I ducked as an Avada Kedavra missed me only by a few inches and swapped hands as I swiveled around and took aim yet again.

It all seemed to stop as the night suddenly got colder. Out of the night sky he appeared, dressed in black, his snake like face glowing eerily in the darkness. No broom in sight, he flew with no other means than his own power.

He just exuded power, the tendrils of it reaching for us as Kingsley urged the Thestral to fly faster. I should have been horrified, I wasn't. Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't pleased to see him, it was more like a terrified fascination. I know he is probably one of the worst human beings, if you could still call him that, that has ever walked the earth but like a mad scientist at that moment I would have given anything to have been able to inspect him, to really get into his mind and life and manage to understand, to get a feeling of what it was like from the other side.

To tell the truth at that moment I was more scared of my own thoughts than of his actions.

They all disappeared as fast as they had appeared. Only the whispers of the night remained.

Kingsley turned half around and checked me for any life threatening injuries. I made an OK sign with my fingers, telling him I was fine to continue.

We spent another while flying but finally stopped in a clearing in the woods where a portkey awaited us.

Getting off the thestral we waited for it to fly away again (it is known that a thestral can return to the place it has come from with no need of further instructions. In this case it was going back to the Hogwarts grounds).

I poked the rusty comb that was our portkey with my foot.

"We have to wait until it is our turn" said Kingsley that seemed completely unruffled, like he had just been for a stroll in the park, unlike me as I probably looked like I had been pulled backwards through a very big bush.

I sat down crossed legged on the ground and lent on one of the trees before realizing it was full of ants and hastily removing my back several inches away from it.

Kingsley just stood there, looking like an unmovable statue. After all that we had just been through it all the peace and silence seemed unreal.

Pulling a strand of hair from my bun a chewed thoughtfully on the end as we waited for the portkey to activate so we could join the others at the Burrow.

The only noise that could be heard was the crickets and a lonely owl hooting in the distance.

Suddenly the portkey flashed bright blue and we both rushed to touch it.

We both landed safely even if rather ungracefully in the garden of the Burrow. Kingsley immediately pointed his wand at Lupin.

"What were the last words Albus Dumbledore spoke to the pair of us?"

"Harry is the best hope we have, trust him" said Lupin, his wand never leaving Kingsley's chest.

Once they had determined they were both who they really said they were, they loudly started fighting over how He who must not be named could have discovered that Harry was being moved.

I turned out Harry had decided only to cast an Expelliarmus on Stan Shunpike. I swear the boy sometimes needs a slap on the head. Pure idiocy.

Killing them at least insures they won't try and kill you again.

Harry dragged me into the house where all the Weasleys that had arrived were standing around a sofa.

"What happened?" I asked Harry.

"Snape chopped his ear off, he is lucky to be alive" he told me looking kind of sick as he stared at the hole in the side of George's head.

I should have been disgusted. I wasn't. It was actually an incredible complex spell that I would have literally killed to get my hands on. I stood closer, inspecting the edges where the ear should have been. I had the urge to stick my wand in it to see if I could make out what kind of magic had been used. I didn't, I don't think the Weasleys would have approved.

The man is actually a genius I mused, cuts so precise would take a lot of practice even although I supposed he was trying to kill him. I wondered if it would work on inanimate objects. I did know Snape killed Dumbledore but that doesn't take away the fact that the man is an artist of all that is magical even although he doesn't use it for good, not that Dumbledore had either. From my point of view Dumbledore really had it coming, if it hadn't been Snape it would have probably been another. At least he hadn't been tortured.

All my thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of Tonks and Ron and the subsequent barging of the Weasleys to greet their youngest son. After all the greetings and hugs we all just stared at the sky waiting for the rest to appear.

Mrs. Weasley suddenly pointed up, to where a Thestral was landing, Fleur and Bill safely on its back.

"Mad- Eye's dead" he said, helping his bride to be off the back of the creature.

Everyone was silent and then the wails and sobs started.

Was I sad? No

Should I have been? Probably

Did it affect me? Yes, it basically pissed me off. The son of a flobberworm, Mundungus, should have thought how this affected our fight against the forces of darkness. As much as Moody was probably one of the most disagreeable persons I had ever met he was also one of the most powerful wizards in the country and even although his eye gave the creeps to everyone that met him it was extremely useful. I wondered if they had managed to save the eye, it would have been nice to have such a powerful tool at our disposal and not at the hands of the Death Eaters that already had all the advantages power and money could get them.

After Harry stopped being a drama queen and had stopped blaming himself over the death of Mad Eyed Moody and the loss of George's ear he told us about his wand acting by itself.

I mean, it was improbable but not impossible, not that I would ever tell him that as it would only have him worrying over the way his wand was acting and there were more pressing matters at hand.

Harry rubbed his forehead and stomped out the house, pushing everyone out of his path.

I glanced at Ron and with a nod of my head to indicate we should follow him we slipped past the still arguing crowd of people out into the garden.

"You aren't still thinking of leaving?" I asked softly to Harry who was sitting on the ground with his head between his knees.

"Are you OK?" asked Ron, his freckles looking even darker on the paleness of his skin.

"I saw him again" mumbled Harry.

Well damn, no need to ask who "he" was. Gripping him by both arms, me and Ron dragged him back into the house, the lights creating a false sense of security and warmth that fooled no one .

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_I hope you like it, please review and tell me if I should continue or not._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The next few days were very quiet, everyone went around the house tiptoeing and generally avoiding each other, except Fred and George that kept trying to cheer people up with some of their new inventions. After being turned in to a giant poodle for the second time in a day I retired to the bedroom I shared with Ginny with a load of books and a plate of chocolate cookies so I could at least do some research without all the others being nosy and trying to read over my shoulder, which by the way really, really, really annoys me. Feeling someone breathe behind you while you are trying very hard to get some good reading time makes me want to hit them very hard. It had got to a point where Fred had asked me to stop reading so fast because I had turned the page and he hadn't finished yet. It seemed like the younger Weasleys had no idea of the meaning of privacy, no wonder Ginny was always complaining about her older brothers.

So while I happily read and munched on biscuits, Ron was in charge of following Harry everywhere as we both had the strong suspicion that he was very capable of going off in the middle of the night and leaving us behind. I had wanted to tie him to the bed so we didn't have to watch him at night (well only Ron had to do it as I had the great excuse of being far too busy reading to do anything else) or at least steal his wand and put it under lock and key but Ron thought I was being exaggerated so instead of that he was keeping a close eye on him.

Things were going more or less well until Mrs Weasley found out that we would be abandoning our education for the year and going god-knows-where to get gods-knows-what, to say she was not amused was putting it mildly and it was even worse for me as she had always considered me the responsible one so for some reason she thought I was going to listen to her, which I obviously did not. Molly Weasley is scary when she gets cross so I had to spend the rest of the day bein extra helpfull so she wouldn't shout at me again.

From that moment on, she tried her best to keep us separated with the excuse that the wedding was coming up and there were a lot of things to do. While Ron was tending the garden and making it look more or less presentable, Harry had to help with the cooking and much to my absolute horror I was in charge of the washing up. I am most definitely not the most organized person in the world, tidying up for me was normally just stuffing everything in the cupboards or under the bed (except for my books that are always organized by author, size and date they were published on). So I was not amused at having to sort through everyone's piles of clothing even if it does give you an insight of the people you are surrounded by. For example I learned that Ron wore Chudley Cannons underpants, Fleur had a preference for pink frilly knickers, Mrs. Weasley's pants would probably make a big enough tent to house all the homeless people in Britain and that even in the wizarding world everyone always lost their socks.

I was saved from dying a slow death surrounded by dirty clothes by McGonagall that had offered to take me to Hogwarts so I could search Snape's rooms for anything that could help us in defeating He- Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (not that we had told her what we were really going searching for but knowing McGonagall she probably knew more than she was letting on). So off we went to Hogwarts, apparating just before we entered the grounds.

Ron fell flat on his face and sulked all the way there because every time I looked at him I just burst out laughing.

We had to leave Harry at home because he was the only one with the Trace still on him as Ron was already seventeen and thanks to the timeturner I was nearly nineteen. He wasn't happy about having to help with the wedding while we were doing important things so we were both expecting him to be even grumpier than usual when we arrived back at the Burrow.

Once McGonagall had lead us through countless passages in the lower part of the school, which we had ever had the chance to really explore as it had always been full of Slytherins just waiting for the chance to try some extremely nasty spells on us, we arrived in front of Snape's rooms that someone had very helpfully opened for us.

"We left everything as it was when he left" said McGonagall, pursing her lips in distaste.

I was thrilled. The chance of being nosy in the rooms of the most feared teacher in Hogwarts history was terribly exhilarating. I bounced slightly on my feet as we waited for Ron that was dragging behind and looking kind of pale which was kind of normal considering all the problems he had had with Snape in the past. It looked like he was expecting him to pop out from behind a statue and give him detention for the millionth time or curse him badly.

McGonagall left, giving her excuses, as she had to start preparing the school for the return of the new pupils and the next Headmaster. As soon as she had turned the corner, her footsteps making echoes in the relative silence of the stone corridor, I barged in front of Ron, wanting to be the first to go in. Pulling my wand out I murmured "Lumos" and I saw the definition of paradise.

Gaping like a fish out of water my eyes couldn't get enough of the sight that lay before me. Far from the gloomy smelly and mouldy rooms I had expected, here there were pristine chambers, decorated in dark woods and blues. We were standing in what seemed to be a small library, I was in heaven. Sprinting to one of the shelves I started grabbing all the books that could fit in my hands. The poor things had been so long without being read by their owner, if they had been mine I would have most definitely gone back to the school to rescue them even although there was an order to kill on sight. Murmuring soft endearments to all of them I stuck my nose in the middle and sniffed in the lovely smell of old books, the yellowing pages beckoning me with all the spells and information that couldn't be found in the Hogwarts library.

He could jolly well be saying bye-bye to his books because he wasn't going to see them ever again. Looking around suspiciously I started placing them carefully and in the order I had taken them of the shelves in my beaded bag that thanks to an extending charm could probably fit a small house.

"Mine, all mine" I murmured happily, not feeling at all guilty about stealing someone else's things. It was his own bloody fault if he had left them behind. Grinning like a maniac I glanced around the now bare room, Ron was nowhere to be found.

"Rooooooon" I shouted.

Silence.

"Ronald Weasley, where are you?" I shouted again at the top of my lungs.

"In here" came his strangled voice from another room that was to the right. I stood up from where I had been sitting on the surprisingly soft black carpet and went to check out all the other rooms. Following Ron's voice I entered what looked like some sort of lab, neatly stacked cauldrons, herbs, different ingredients and small potion bottles everywhere. Yup, all those were going in the bag as well I thought to myself, thanking Merlin that even although Snape was a murderer at least he knew his way around potions.

It was bliss, everything so neat and labelled. The only thing that was getting on my nerves was Ron that was in the corner groaning and prodding a jar containing what looked like a gutted rat.

"Oh for heaven's sake Ron, if you don't like being here just get out" I snapped at him.

I didn't need to say it twice, as soon as I had said it he looked at me and ran out the room.

"Big Baby" I said to his retreating back as I proceeded to fill my bag with all kind of interesting potions that I would be more than thrilled to inspect.

Passing past a few skulls, dissected animals, strange smelling concoctions and a singed patch on the floor I also raided his supplies cupboard, grinning all the time as it is not every day you get to see all those marvellous things and the thought of being able to steal or umm "borrow" as I liked to say from the most terrifying teacher Hogwarts had ever had, made me happier than I probably should have been.

Walking back I proceeded to inspect the rest of the chambers. The was a small kitchen (who knows why he wanted one considering the house elves did all the work in Hogwarts), a sitting room and the big surprise was the bathroom that was enormous and had one of those baths you have to step down to get in to. He also had shampoo. I smirked at all the comments the boys had made over the years about his greasy hair and wished I had a camera to show them he really did wash it.

"Niiiice" I whistled under my breath.

Last but not least was the bedroom. It felt kind of wrong to be there even although I had not had any problem whatsoever raiding all of his other chambers, but this was just so personal it was unnerving. Going round to the side of the four-poster bed I let my hand slide along the sheets it felt like the man had never left, his presence still lingering in the room. I opened the cupboard to see if there was anything interesting inside that could help us, there wasn't. Row upon row of black garments stared back at me, it smelt nice. I grabbed one of the cloaks and stuffed it, without thinking, inside my bag and giving one last glance around me headed out to meet Ron so we could go back to the Burrow.

By the time we got back, Harry had gotten over the fact we had left him behind and was helping Mr. Weasley count all the Muggle money he had hidden from his wife because he had decided he needed new batteries for his collection so we kind of avoided them for the rest of the day so he wouldn't shout at us. Harry in a bad mood has a tendency to be trouble.

Next day I was awoken at the crack of dawn by Ginny thumping me over the head with a cushion and screaming in my ear "Wake up sleepy head it's Harry's birthday!"

After a few choice swear words I managed to drag myself out of the bed to where I had hidden Harry's present (a book about avoiding curses so that even if he didn't like it I would get to read it) and down to the kitchen where Harry was sitting like a king on his throne in the middle of the room surrounded by wrapping paper and presents. The Sneakoscope kept going off every two seconds so we shoved it inside a cooking pot at the back of one of the kitchen cupboards and while the others cleared up the kitchen I helped Mrs. Weasley make the birthday cake (well in theory I was helping but all I was really doing was sticking my fingers in the cake mixture). And that was how we spent the day until dinner time that was when the party was taking place.

Ron was fawning over Fleur's little sister (the entire Delacour family had arrived the day before) and I found it absolutely revolting the way he followed her around like a puppy so I stayed out of their way and spent the time decorations the trees with explosions of streamers that managed to turn into a great big messy ball until I figured a way to untangle them. Decorating is boring, especially if you have to decorate with Quidditch themed banners and Mrs Weasley refused to give me permission to animate some of the cupes and plates on the table so they would dance to the tune of "Happy Birthday" which would have made everything sooooo much more interesting

We were interrupted in the middle of the party by Mr Weasley apparating with the Minister which caused Lupin and Tonks to flee the party so fast they knocked over the table with all the food. The twins and Charlie looked like they wanted to murder Scrimgeour. I looked at all the chocolate goodies now strewn all over the grass and glared at the man that had even worse hair than me and was currently being horribly obnoxious to Harry.

"I require a private word with Ms. Granger, Mr Ronald Weasley and Mr Potter" he said looking down at us like we were bugs he would very much like to squash.

We led him inside with Ron quietly fuming behind us because it looked like the Minister was avoiding touching anything like if he thought the house was infected by some deadly disease.

"I am here, because of the will of Albus Dumbledore"

"Oh shit" I thought. "What the hell has that madman done now?" I was surprised but also rather worried. First of all, I could understand why he would want to leave something for Harry but I doubted he would even know our names if we hadn't always been friends with Harry. Logically I was perfectly aware that he was a great wizard but during the summer I had been increasingly annoyed by the way he had done things as a lot of suffering had come from his not wanting to explain things and a lot of things could have been avoided if only he had opened his bloody mouth. Sometimes I was actually happy Snape had got rid of him (not that I would ever tell anyone that because then the next dead person would be me) or I would have probably been arrested for assault. So yeah, I was not amused when I heard he had left something in his will to us.

"He's been dead for more than a month, why is this only coming now?" I scowled at the Minister.

"Well, the Decree for Justifiable Confiscation…"

"The Decree for Justifiable Confiscation my ass" I snapped leaving the boys horrified "That law was only created for suspicions of the passing of Dark artefacts".

Not a way to get on the good side of the Minister.

He looked down his big nose at me and brought out a very old book from a bag.

"To Miss Granger I leave my copy of Tales of Beadle the Bard he read, and handed me the old book which I very gingerly accepted while I held my wand pointed at it from under the table just in case it burst into flames as soon as I touched it. It didn't.

"To Mr Ronald Weasley I leave my Deluminator and to Mr Harry Potter I leave the Snitch he caught in his first game" he read aloud from the parchment in front of him.

He looked on expectantly as Harry picked up the Snitch but nothing happened. After inviting himself to a slice of cake he left as fast as he had come.

After stuffing our faces with what had been left after the unfortunate accident the table had had we headed upstairs after casting a "Muffliato" behind us. There, after inspecting the items that had been given to us and not finding instructions anywhere (see what I mean with the man being too mysterious for his own good? As had been proven when he died. But noooo, he couldn't make our lives easier by leaving instructions that would have been too easy I thought to myself, laying on the sarcasm)

We finally remembered that in Harry's first game he had managed to catch the Snitch with his mouth so if we wanted anything to happen we would have to put it in his mouth. Sure enough as soon as he placed the golden ball in his mouth, the wings fluttering gently, a sentence appeared "I open at the close".

Now, how on earth is anyone supposed to know what the hell that means? So not funny Dumbledore.

By that time I was sick of everyone and horribly tired so I headed back to my room thanking Merlin Ginny was still downstairs playing Quidditch with her brothers.

I sat on my bed and peered into my beaded bag. I pulled out the cloak I had "borrowed" from Snape, it smelled nice so I wrapped myself in its silky folds laughing silently at the face Snape would make if he ever saw me wearing it and grabbed a book on Dark Curses for some light reading.

Just as I was settling down on my pillow I felt something poking me in the hips, there was something in the pocket. Cautiously introducing my hand in the pocket I pulled out a small bottle and a folded piece of paper. My curiosity getting the better of me I unfolded the paper.

"Granger,I need help" it said in the bold letter I had grown to recognize after so many years at Hogwarts.

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_All comments are appreciated. Tell me if you would like me to continue_


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